Tijuana loves delivery

Tijuana is a city that loves its delivery food. Hundreds of motorcycles with all sorts of food zoom down the streets day and night.

One morning I woke up to find out my roommate had had Hornero pizza delivered to our downtown apartment. I called Hornero a few days later to order a pizza, but a voicemail responded without a delivery option. Hornero is a pricey fine-dining establishment located in the rich area of Tijuana, uptown. It’s a place I rarely visit. I was confused as to how a pizza from Hornero ended up in my home.

It wasn’t until I spotted a motorcycle that read “Hornero Express,” a spin-off of that restaurant, that I had my answer. For the longest time I thought that the only pizza that would deliver to me would be from a commercial chain such as Domino’s or their Tijuana imitators, Tooginos, Mama Mia, or Pizza & Love (avoid those).

Hornero Express has specialty pizzas ranging from $6.25 to $8.25, all medium size. The menu does not offer other sizes or customizable options, but it does include salads and pastas.

For the past month I have frequently been ordering from Hornero Express, a different pizza each time. Each pizza is good for a single person, including a 6’4” guy that can eat forever. (I usually eat three quarters of a pizza in less than 15 minutes.)

Each pizza dos a good job of emulating a specialty. I have tried 10 out of their 23 choices. Some have been great, others meh. With mozzarella, goat cheese, roquefort, parmesan, and smoked gouda, the Five Cheese Pizza has been my favorite. The Lasagna Pizza is a close second. The Margherita was offensively bad, and the vegetarian was too dry (plus, I dislike raw champignons). The Lasagna Pizza tasted very similar to the pasta dish. Same for the Shrimp Enchilado pizza, which tasted like a taco without the tortilla. The Veggie Pizza tasted like a salad on top of bread.

As I was typing this, I got hungry for another pizza. The last two on the menu are BBQ Chicken and Chipotle Chicken. I asked the guy on the phone which one was his favorite. He said he preferred Chipotle but that a lot of people order the BBQ. He recommended doing half and half.

When the combo arrived, I saw that the whole thing included a generous amount of chicken. Both sides were good, but the Chipotle was way better.